"Man
is dominated by the making of money, by acquisition as the ultimate
purpose of his life. Economic acquisition is no longer subordinated
to man as the means for the satisfaction of his material needs.
This reversal of what we should call the natural relationship, so
irrational from a naive point of view, is evidently as definitely
a leading principle of capitalism as it is foreign to all peoples
not under a capitalist influence"
(The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 1904)

If Christianity
is the opium of the people, and optimism is the opium of progressives,
Weber provided an antidote to both. Like Marx, Weber's work was
wide ranging, the sign of a great intellect. However, it is often
said of Weber that, in contrast to Marx, there is no overarching
system or point of analysis which brings together the whole work.
This is only partially correct. There is one thread running through
Weber's work, that of pessimism in the face of the modern world
(AB).